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On may 28, 2020, an extraordinary extended meeting of the Academic Council was held to discuss the speech of the Head of state K. Tokayev at the third meeting of the National Council of public trust on may 27, 2020.
K.O. Sharipov made a speech and outlined the main points from the speech related to the field of science:
- increasing science funding to 1% of GDP;
- increase in basic funding and socio-economic, industrial, and technical returns from each scientific work;
- improving the infrastructure of the scientific research Institute;
- constant direct support of scientific organizations engaged in basic research, regardless of the results of one-time grant competitions;
- building a digital ecosystem of science in Kazakhstan and creating a national scientific and analytical system, Kazakhstan’s science citation index with a database of domestic scientists.
Employees of the Institute supported the actions outlined in the speech of the Head of state K. Tokayev presented modern challenges in the field of Science, ways to solve them step-by-step, and expressed their intention to contribute to the implementation of the plans outlined in the speech.
Excerpt from the speech of the Head of state K. Tokayev, may 27, 2020:
In general, we are steadily increasing funding for science, and by 2025 we will bring it to 1% of GDP.
At the same time, we can’t afford to fund unnecessary work and research that often no one reads.
There must be a strong demand and a specific socio-economic, industrial, and technical return on each scientific work.
Program-specific funding should be allocated exclusively on the basis of national scientific and technical objectives.
Efforts and resources should be directed to areas such as biomedical research, agro-industrial science, green technologies, artificial intelligence, and energy efficiency.
An important task is to directly support scientific organizations engaged in basic research, which should be carried out continuously, regardless of the results of one-time grant competitions.
The government should consider increasing basic funding for basic science and research institutes.
One of the problematic issues is the lack of equipment for research. On my instructions, a new program for material and technical equipment of institutes has been launched this year, but it is underfunded. This problem should be resolved.
There is an acute shortage of strong scientists in social, humanitarian, and agricultural sciences today, which can be solved by attracting leading foreign scientists to conduct joint research and guide doctoral and master’s students.
Of course, this practice should be targeted and bring concrete results.
It is extremely important to link technological platforms, large domestic enterprises and companies with Universities and Research Institutes. I ask the Government and experts to prepare appropriate proposals.
It is important to build a digital ecosystem of science in Kazakhstan and create a national scientific and analytical system, Kazakhstan’s science citation index with a database of domestic scientists.
In order to improve the efficiency of public administration, the Ministry of education and science should be designated as the body responsible for cross-sectoral coordination.
All these measures should be reflected in the package of changes to the legislation on science, which is being considered in the Parliament.
The full text of the speech is available here: